Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went to the movies over the weekend and declared that he was "team Barbie" in a Sunday Twitter post that has proved to be highly controversial.
"We’re team Barbie," Trudeau wrote in a viral post with over 24.5 million views on Twitter that featured a picture of him and his son going to see the film.
The tweet has kicked off a firestorm of debate and mockery from political commentators battling over masculinity and gender roles in the movie "Barbie" as well as over Trudeau himself, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU, WIFE OF 18 YEARS ANNOUNCE SEPARATION
Senior fellow at the graduate school of Public and International Affairs of Ottawa, Artur Wilczynski, wrote that anger directed against the picture of Trudeau with his son was unfair.
"This is a great pic of a dad going to a movie with his son. The negative reaction to this is messed up. That two guys wearing pink & like Barbie threatens a cohort of right wingers is ridiculous. If your masculinity is threatened by men wearing pink, you need to get a life."
"This lacks Kenergy," political commentator Ian Miles Cheong wrote, referencing a term that has gone viral on the internet in wake of the popularity of Ryan Gosling's character, Ken. Yahoo has defined "Kenergy" as "a term coined on set to describe the intangible masculine energy of Gosling's performance in the film."
Daily Beast writer Elad Nehorai claimed that "bigots" were attacking Trudeau.
"The blue check responses to this tweet of Trudeau going to Barbie with his son are a perfect example of how people pay to be bigots on this platform. Once upon a time, such bigotry was pushed to the bottom of replies or removed. Now you can pay to put it at the top."
The Prime Minister's endorsement of "Barbie" comes amidst growing ticket sales for the move around the world. "Barbie" has made over $1 billion at the box office, officially making it one of the most popular movies on the planet this year, according to Warner Bros. studios. It is another milestone for a movie that has proved itself a social media and cultural phenemonen, especially in the United States.
The movie itself has been controversial for its apparent feminist themes, though some conservative commentators have disputed that interpretation of the film.
Star Simu Liu has praised the film for deconstructing "heteronormative" gender roles about toys and colors.
"And I’m so glad that this movie exists because I think it puts the final nail in the coffin of that very heteronormative idea of what gender is, and what is or is not gendered," he said during an interview with Screen Rant’s Joe Deckelmeier.
In contrast, Katrina Trinko, editor and chief of the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal, said that while there were some disappointing "woke moment[s]" in the film, overall the movie "challenges the understanding of women promulgated by the sexual revolution and modern feminism."
Trudeau is also attracting global attention after he announced he and his wife were separating in an Instagram post. "Sophie and I would like to share the fact that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate," he wrote.
"As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build."
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
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